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Topic: Investment Advice (Read 11365 times)

Tecumseh, I like real estate too at this point, but the carrying costs are sizable up here. What’s the property taxes like in TX? Along with the tax burden we’ve also got some very high heating bills and water bills if a home is located in city limits. At least in the cities we have NG for heating, outside the city limits you’re often stuck with propane which seems like you’re burning gold it’s so expensive. I think we’re too cold up here to really benefit from a heat pump, but my HVAC guy claims otherwise.

The taxes on an undeveloped lot are low here, but with a declining population, who really needs a lot? A BIG lot is good if it’s farm-able.

I worked with a realtor a couple times last summer who says he’s going to be a multimillionaire soon and is just doing the realtor thing for fun. So I said, oh REALLY, can I ask you how you are going to become a multimillionaire? Then he told me he had purchased $5000 worth of Dinars a few years ago for a fraction of a penny. Puzzled, I said what the heck is a Dinar! That’s when he told me they are the Iraqi currency and the way he expects to make money from them. His basic strategy seemed to follow this reuter’s news article.

a moot snip...But hey, if I'm mistaken and you don't actually consider yourself "open minded", or you somehow take being called "open minded" as a criticism, by all means, I apologize and am sorry if I offended you.

the black cat writes...for some reason (can't really say why) Moot I was not offended at all. I do kind of dislike 'tags' placed on myself by other who really don't know me at all. Being somewhat educated and hanging with a largely educated crowd (here in the real world) I have no problem accepting new information and changing my mental model of the world whenever the evidence suggest that my old model is a bit outdated. if you wish to call this open minded I certainly will take no issue with that. <actually moot I tend to believe that all this name calling of liberal or conservative is a bit simple minded and does little more that defining 'us' vs 'them' which really doesn't advance anyone very far... this definition is a line which is one dimensional and therefore provides NO real variation or depth and width.

imagine some one trying to explain the history of Tecumseh to me... all googled I would guess?

ps... there are all kinds of subsidies... direct and indirect. at least for a lot of folks (economic/financial trained folks like myself) any loop hole in the tax law is at least an indirect subsidy... which really mean since one person is given a pass in paying their fair share another person has to pony up to take up for the slackers. in most cases people like to make large of subsidies to other while ignoring any subsidy they obtain. the largest subsidy (indirect) provided to oil firms are leases on federal property... which by there very design is only available to folks with a very large purse... this subsidy comes in the form of a lease royalty which is exactly one half the rate the same folks would pay to private land owners. most times these kinds of leases are auctioned off and the money to get the lease signed (good faith money if you will) is in most cases also much less than the same firm would pay to a private land owner.

at this point Bluebee the property tax here is affordable but we are being gentrified fairly quickly so that will not last for very long.

tecumseh,Don't over think it....The simple truth is we use labels and put people into categories, because they fit, that's the reality of the situation, "here in the real world".

Also, as a general life rule, when someone feels the need to tell me how educated they are, and how they hang out with an educated crowd, I tend to get suspicious! But hey, that's just been my experience, "here in the real world". :)

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"We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." - Ronald Reagan

Interesting note about the oil leases on Federal Land Tecumseh. No wonder the puppets are always complaining that “we need to open up more federal land for drilling”.

Speaking of Hydrocarbons, which direction do you all see Natural Gas going (price wise?). I read the other day that the number of NG wells is down something like 25% (producers cut the well count to save money) and the media marketeers are now claiming the shale wells are depleting a lot faster than expected. All the makings for sucking (or luring) people back into NG and driving the price up.

"We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." - Ronald Reagan

Being somewhat educated and hanging with a largely educated crowd (here in the real world) I have no problem accepting new information and changing my mental model of the world whenever the evidence suggest that my old model is a bit outdated.

Really? I have not seen you change you opion once, as a matter of fact you seem to double down on the liberalism when presented with facts...

Yes the part about your name sake was copy and pasted. It was direct and to the point. If you would like I can write a 10 to 15 page disertation on him, but I doubt that you would read the whole thing or learn anything from it seeing that you are so highly evolved...

So I guess you assume that I am not "somewhat educated". How did you arrive to this conclusion? I know I am a conservative so therefore I must be an idiot. Dam I should have paid more attention to Bill Ayres during the sixties. Then I could be highly evolved like the rest of you liberals...

a bluebee snip..Speaking of Hydrocarbons, which direction do you all see Natural Gas going (price wise?).

tecumseh...there is plenty of evidence to suggest to me bluebee that Standard Oil of New Jersey is the business plan of the day in regards to the oil business. drive price up or you drive prices down and in the process you are capable of making money no matter in which direction the market goes. of course small individual investors become the fodder of this kind of business plan. as to natural gas there is a very obvious differential in the prices of natural gas vs oil. I myself suspect that since natural gas is used in a lot of process within the oil business to make high valued products that the price of natural gas will continue to be depressed for some time to come. If on the other hand the federal and state government begin pursuing price rigging changes against the oil companies (which they have done in the past and they appear to be doing now) then you are more likely to see some equilization in the price of oil vs natural gas (and likely more based on the btu content).

a moot snip..The simple truth is we use labels and put people into categories, because they fit, that's the reality of the situation

tecumseh...but what if your own simple truth is not?

Moots...But, what if it is? :-D

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"We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." - Ronald Reagan

The price of natural gas will go up. It may be a slow climb short term, but as the infrastructure gets put into place for more areas to use gas, and natural gas market expands to the auto industry, the current glut will disappear and market force will drive price up. Regulation and lawsuit based on franking concerns will be forces outside direct supply/demand balance that will also push prices up.

it is often suggested by political science folks that one characteristic that conforms to the conservative mind set is the word 'reactionary'... which does suggest that not over thinking things is a quality they embrace and likely suggest why some folks find them as a group so easy to manipulate.

as to your larger theory Moot I would say sometime tags work and sometimes they do not. simply suggesting that ALL tags fit informs me that you have not seen this larger TRUTH. So (and using an analogy from beekeeping) there is ALWAYS only one queen in a hive?

a greg snip..So I guess you assume that I am not "somewhat educated". How did you arrive to this conclusion? I know I am a conservative so therefore I must be an idiot.

tecumseh...thanks for making my point about projection. I couldn't have done a better job myself.

and of course Sunnyboy is correct about the price of natural gas... if you modify this by stating that the price climb will conform to a time when it suits the monopoly that controls the supply and price of natural gas.

it is often suggested by political science folks that one characteristic that conforms to the conservative mind set is the word 'reactionary'... which does suggest that not over thinking things is a quality they embrace and likely suggest why some folks find them as a group so easy to manipulate.

as to your larger theory Moot I would say sometime tags work and sometimes they do not. simply suggesting that ALL tags fit informs me that you have not seen this larger TRUTH. So (and using an analogy from beekeeping) there is ALWAYS only one queen in a hive?

Tecumseh...No one's suggesting "under thinking" anything, certainly not me. Can you grasp the concept that somewhere right smack in between "over thinking" and "under thinking" an issue lies this little sweet spot where a "reasonable" amount of thought gets applied. However, I do find it telling that you seem to regard "over thinking" an issue as a plus. I've seen countless cases where it's arguably more detrimental, but yet you imply, it's a good thing.

As for "political science folks", that's not a real objective group there, and honestly, I really couldn't care less what they "suggest".

As for you suggesting that I suggested that "ALL" tags fit...I did no such thing! So I ask you...Who's projecting now???

You do acknowledge "that sometimes tags work and sometimes they do not"! So, are we to accept that you're the official authority on tags? Perhaps we should have everyone check with you and seek your approval before using any tag or label.

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"We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." - Ronald Reagan

After watching the reactions of the left on guns, I think it's hilarious "" actually, I find it pathetic" that a liberal can suggest a conservative may be 'reactionary'

“For every complex problem,” H.L. Mencken wrote, “there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” or something to that effect

I think this fits perfectly here.

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"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

Tecumseh, I like real estate too at this point, but the carrying costs are sizable up here. What’s the property taxes like in TX? Along with the tax burden we’ve also got some very high heating bills and water bills if a home is located in city limits. At least in the cities we have NG for heating, outside the city limits you’re often stuck with propane which seems like you’re burning gold it’s so expensive. I think we’re too cold up here to really benefit from a heat pump, but my HVAC guy claims otherwise.

The taxes on an undeveloped lot are low here, but with a declining population, who really needs a lot? A BIG lot is good if it’s farm-able.

Our mutual funds are doing excellently right now. Same with 401K.

Land is going for approx $4-5000/acre, so a pretty steep investment and some pretty steep property taxes unless it's ag land. As Michael says, everything else is kind of crap for investing.

I'm investing back into my own business--trying to grow it, make it more efficient.

And since this has already gotten into mud-slinging politics, I'd like to add that I'm a fully employed liberal with 2 jobs. My DH and I farm and still have managed to sock away savings. I don't want anyone's brain to blow up, but there it is. ;)

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The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. ---Emily Dickinson

4 to 5K per acre in Wisconsin, interesting. On the retail market, farm land has been going for about $3500 an acre here. I’ve seen foreclosures sold by the feds (Fannie/Freddie) going for $500 an acre with a house and a barn! However those were in the 10 to 20 acre sizes. Not really big enough to make a living off growing commodities like Soybeans and Corn on that size of land. They also typically need a lot of TLC. A little 10 acre hobby farm with an old house sold down the road from me for $23K last year. That’s 10 acres, an old 2 story farm house, and old barn. Might be a better investment than Fisker.

Residential lots prices are rebounding to the 10K / acre level here, but I really don’t think many are selling at that level. Since the Feds don’t have a bunch of lots to dump, those prices are really set by the private market. Those private sellers want their $$$$

"reactionary" applied to conservatives is pretty funny. conservatism is based on logic. liberalism is based on emotion....on what feels good, or seems nice.

you can't be reactionary if you are applying logic, but you sure can when you are flowing with emotion.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....